Reading to young children is the best thing a parent can do for them. On the other hand, free licence to watch television could well destroy their creativity, present and future. Looking back upon my own child rearing days, I may have taken numerous wrong turns, but I read my son stories every night even before he quite understood them. It developed his imagination and served him well as a film and cinema student in the US, enabling him to bag several awards.

I remember I used to hunt down unusual books in every nook and corner of the world (those were pre-google days). Today, my brothers are amazed by my collection, now handed down to their sons. This search and purchase practice continues. Recently I presented my dear nephews, who at ages seven and eight have become voracious readers, a title named The Story of Dandi March by Sandhya Rao (Tulika Publishers).

Little did I know that I would have to borrow it back from them to glean some details of which I was unaware, of this historic trek. What I learned from re-reading the book was that on January 31, 1930, Gandhiji wrote to the British Viceroy of India setting 11 demands on behalf of the Indian people. He warned that if the demands were not conceded, he would break the government’s Salt Law and encourage all Indians to do the same.

The demands were not met and the Mahatma began a 384 km march from his home at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to the small coastal town of Dandi, where the Arabian Sea left large deposits of salt crystals on the shore. The occupation government had assumed monopoly control of the salt factories and salt pans of India’s vast coastline. Indians were not allowed to pan their own salt and were also charged a tax on purchased salt.

So Gandhiji and 78 others set out on a protest march to Dandi on March 12 with the avowed purpose of breaking the inequitous salt law. Even at age 61, other marchers struggled to keep pace with him. Besides other hardships, they crossed the Mahi river through knee-deep water and reached Dandi on April 5. Early next morning Gandhiji waded into the waters of the Arabian Sea, and picking up a lump of salt, symbolically broke the salt law.

This was a signal to people across the country to follow suit. C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) led a group from Trichy to Vedaranyam on the east coast, off the Bay of Bengal. K. Kelappan walked from Calicut to Pavannur on the west coast. Satyagrahis walked all the way from Sylhet in Assam to Noakhali on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. A year later, following numerous grievous injuries to the satyagrahis and jail term for the Mahatma, a pact was signed. The British India government was forced to concede the right of Indians to pan their own salt.

However, almost 75 years on we are encountering a different type of salt-related breach of our freedom. Not from a foreign government but, sadly, from our very own misguided, misinformed and greedy government- an unwarranted imposition of iodised salt.

I produce here a self-explanatory letter I have written to the Union minister for health and family welfare.

Hon’ble Minister,

This is with reference to a news item dated June 16, 2005 in The Economic Times, which says that your government has imposed a ban on the sale of non-iodized salt in India. This means the unavailability of natural sea and rock salt, our traditional aakha namak and saindhav namak.

We need to follow our 5,000-year-old traditions of Ayurveda rather than blindly follow western medicinal practices. Mahatma Gandhi led the Dandi salt march which has since prompted western societies to appreciate the virtues of unrefined sea salt. We need to be vigilant about whether there is a real need for iodised salt or whether big companies and multinationals need to sell it.

We appreciate the fact that some segments of the population are iodine deficient. But others that are not, should not be compelled to ingest iodine. Let people be allowed to choose in a democracy.

I am sure you are aware that sea and rock salt have natural iodine in them. We therefore feel it is refining of these natural salts which is causing thyroid complications as well as other health issues. Thus there is no case for a wholesale, nationwide switch over to refined salt.

Natural salts contain several elements necessary for good health, while in refined salt, sodium chloride and other chemicals are used to make it free-flowing. In this way the iodine properties within natural salt are lost, necessitating addition of inorganic iodine. Moreover, bleaching agents are added for whiteness as is aluminum silicate to keep it powdery and porous. I’m sure you are aware that aluminum is very toxic.

We are collating this and other information which we would like to present to you before the ban on the sale of unrefined salt is imposed. We hope you will have the patience to review and rethink this vital issue that will affect the health of every person in our country.

Kavita Mukhi, Mumbai

(Kavita Mukhi is a Mumbai-based eco-nutritionist and director of Conscious Food)

Also read: Supreme health route map